


The Mind's Perception of Reality Differs from Person to Person

by DreamoftheWild



Series: Linktober 2020 [7]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Altered Perception of Reality, Blood, Body Horror, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Redeads - Freeform, Spooky, horror?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:53:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27174109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamoftheWild/pseuds/DreamoftheWild
Summary: Wild shows his friends Kakariko Village. They run away.Linktober 2020: #8
Series: Linktober 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951177
Comments: 18
Kudos: 100





	The Mind's Perception of Reality Differs from Person to Person

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt was: ReDeads!
> 
> I don't know what this is lol
> 
> Edited because I just realized google docs changed Warriors to just Warrior. ):<

“Welcome to Kakariko Village!” Wild splays his arms out happily, marching forward, under the archway. He doesn't turn around to look at the group, assuming they'd follow.

If he had, he would've seen how the group of eight stopped just before the town entrance. He would have seen the horror fill their eyes, as they looked upon a town in ruin. 

The archway, that Wild had just passed under, is made of rotted wood. Moss and mold grows along it and several chunks had broken off at some point and found its way to the dirt. Scattered talismans sway in the breeze where they are nailed in place along the top of the structure, and a few loose ones blow ominously past their feet. 

The houses they can see from their position are dilapidated, black charred hay roofs collapsed. The grass is yellowed, singed in some places. The overbearing, unrecognizable bad smells has the group backing up a step.

Wild turns around, smiling, and they only now notice his eyes are wrong, so wrong. His pupils are dilated. “What's the matter? Come on! Come meet Impa!” 

Warriors gulps down a wad of fear and is the first to follow. Wild veers to the right, marching along towards a decline. They walk past a lone fence post, worms and maggots wiggle through small holes in the wood. 

Wild smiles and waves towards an empty space at the foot of an incline, a path that leads up into the mountains surrounding the town. “Good morning Koko, Cottla, and Dorian!” He greets.

_ There’s no one there.  _

Warriors swallows another tight knot in his throat. Is Wild messing with them? Why does Kakariko look like it’s been through a war?

Wild leads them down into the center of the village, past a few more destroyed buildings and what seemed to be dry, tilled soil. There, they are greeted with the sight of a small foot bridge leading over a small pond and a staircase leading up into an ancient looking house. However, this house is not ruined like the rest of them, at least from what they could see. 

Wild breaks away from them, “Stay here, I’ll tell Impa about having visitors.” He runs up the stairs and disappears through the doors. 

Sky takes it upon himself to examine what was at the end of the small pond bridge. The wood creaks noisily under his weight with each step. At the end, he finds himself face to face with a statue of Hylia.

Or what was supposed to be Hylia.

Red liquid seeps almost endlessly out of her stone eyes, her body chipped and full of holes, and a pungent, rotting odor permeates the air. Sky jumps back, afraid. A sheet of old, yellowed cloth hangs limply over her forehead, and he reaches for it hesitantly. He turns it over.

_ There is no goddess here. _

He drops it immediately upon seeing the words, scrawled in what he hoped was red ink, and rejoins the others. “Guys-” he begins to say, but is interrupted by the return of Wild, who beckons them over from his spot at the foot of the stairs. 

“Come on!” 

Twilight thinks nothing wrong of the situation, his own Impa lived in an abandoned town by herself. Perhaps Wild’s was the same.

He was wrong. 

Wild opens the doors, slowly, they groan against his effort. Their nerves aren't the only reason they all freeze. A piercing, haunting scream echoes through the main room, paralyzing the group. Only Wild seems unaffected. He steps forward while the others can only watch.

Lumbering corpses with decaying flesh, some with missing limbs, turn to face them. This is where the odor seems to come from, the smell of death that lingers throughout the whole village. Wild positions himself in front of a small pedestal, on which a pillow sits. He kneels in front of it. 

“Impa, I brought my friends.”

In front of him, is the worst looking of them all, an undead creature with only a torso and a head. It gnashes its teeth as it tries to bend over, with its atrophied stomach muscles, to reach the boy’s head. Wild doesn't notice. 

Legend doesn't know what to do. He's never seen something this grotesque before.  _ Why did Wild bring them here?  _ As soon as he can feel the paralysis of his body wear off, he grabs the back of Hyrule’s tunic and pulls him outside. Time has to grab one of Twilight’s belt straps to pull him back so he doesn’t run towards Wild, who still sits before the corpse on the pillow. 

“We have to go.” Warriors commands, snapping the rest out of their frozen state. 

They back out of the house as quickly as they entered, racing down the stairs. A few of the steps splinter from their weight, but none falter. 

Wind’s breathing is heavy, panic overriding his senses. Four’s eyes are a shade of purple, only looking ahead of them as they ran. Legend pulls Hyrule forward by the arm, both panting wildly, but not slowing down. Warriors pulls up the rear behind Sky, making sure he doesn’t get left behind with his low stamina.

“We left Wild!” Twilight yells, slowing down, ready to turn back. Time pushes him forward with a hand on his back when he hesitates.

“He’ll catch up with us.” Time whispers.

But he doesn't believe it.


End file.
